The present invention relates to an inkjet dyeing apparatus. More specifically, it relates to an inkjet dyeing apparatus suitable for continuous printing on a belt-like textile such as a seat belt webbing.
As a dyeing method for seat belt webbing, a method disclosed in, for example, Japanese Patent No. 3240674: Patent Document 1 is known. According to the method disclosed in Patent Document 1, the seat belt webbing is subjected to a certain amount of tension with a first tensioner and a second tensioner while it is immersed in a dye solution in a dye padding process for a dye attachment and dried in a hot-air oven for dye developing and fixing.
Also, a method disclosed in, for example, Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 5-318721: Patent Document 2 is known as a method for recording (printing) of a cloth or wallpaper. According to the method disclosed in Patent Document 2, a cloth is rewound from the dispenser roll of a cloth feeding section while it is fed to a printing section, provided with ink ejected from an ink jet recording section, dried in a drying section for ink developing and fixing, and rewound at a taking-up section.
The dyeing method disclosed in Patent Document 1, however, causes problems that only one-color dyeing with no patterns can be achieved since the webbing is immersed in the dye solution, that a large space is required for a water bath for a dye solution and a hot-water washing solution, and that it is necessary to treat a waste dyeing solution and to install a gas tank and a steam boiler and the like, thereby increasing a burden on the environment.
The recording method described in Patent Document 2 also has a disadvantage, and is mainly used in single-side printing since it is intended mainly for a cloth and textile used for clothing and wallpaper. Therefore, it does not mention its application to a two-side printing. Furthermore, the recording method described in Patent Document 2 is not suitable for a high-speed printing because an ink head is moving on a printed surface while ejecting an ink due to its extended range of printing.
Accordingly, the present invention has been made in light of the foregoing. An object of the present invention is to provide an inkjet dyeing method and apparatus suitable for continuous printing for a belt-like textile such as a seat belt webbing, which allows various colors and patterns to be printed on both sides of the textile while reducing burdens on the environment.
Further objects and advantages of the invention will be apparent from the following description of the invention.